AUSTIN, Texas — A video investigation from The Wall Street Journal shows Texas Attorney General and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ken Paxton partying on a Dubai balcony during a New Year's Eve 2024 fireworks celebration at the Burj Khalifa alongside two men who were later indicted on federal fraud charges — one of whom donated $190,000 to Paxton's campaign.

The footage, first published by the Journal on Oct. 12 and widely picked up over the following two days, shows Paxton at the celebration with Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail. Both men were indicted in federal court in Illinois in 2024 on charges of embezzling roughly $15 million from a Chicago hospital where Ahmed served as chief financial officer, according to FOX4's report on the video. Ahmed was separately indicted in connection with an alleged $195 million COVID-19 testing fraud scheme.

Campaign finance records reviewed by the Journal show Ahmed donated a total of $190,000 to Paxton's Senate campaign, including a $25,000 contribution made just days after his indictment. Paxton's girlfriend, Tracy Duhon, also appears in the footage, per Forbes' breakdown of the reporting.

"STILL THE SKETCHIEST GUY IN THE ROOM." — DEMOCRATIC SENATE RIVAL JAMES TALARICO

Where the Men Are Now

Ahmed is currently in federal custody. Suhail's attorney said "civil matters in Dubai" delayed his client's return to the U.S., and that Suhail ultimately came back voluntarily once those matters were resolved, according to Yahoo News. Both men are presumed innocent of the pending charges, and the video itself does not show that Paxton had any knowledge of or involvement in the alleged fraud schemes.

A senior adviser to Paxton's campaign, Nick Maddux, did not directly address the Dubai trip when asked for comment, instead saying Paxton has been "politically persecuted for years." Talarico, one of Paxton's Democratic rivals in the race, seized on the story, telling reporters Paxton remained "still the sketchiest guy in the room."

Timing Could Matter

The story broke one week before early voting opens in Texas, in a Senate race already shadowed by Paxton's history of legal and ethics controversies. Paxton has built his political career in part on his record as one of the most prolific Republican legal challengers of federal policy during his twelve years as attorney general, filing dozens of multistate lawsuits against the Biden administration and, before that, the Obama administration. He survived a 2023 impeachment trial in the Texas Senate on separate corruption-related allegations, which ended in acquittal, and has faced years of overlapping legal and ethics scrutiny even as he built a loyal base within the state's Republican primary electorate. Paxton is running to succeed retiring Sen. John Cornyn.

The Dubai footage adds a new, highly visual element to that scrutiny just as general-election campaigning intensifies in one of the cycle's most closely watched Senate races, with control of the chamber itself seen as a near-even proposition heading into November.

Neither Paxton's campaign nor the state attorney general's office has released a detailed accounting of the Dubai trip's costs or who else attended, and it remains unclear whether the visit is connected to any official state business. Paxton's office has not responded to requests for comment on whether the trip was disclosed on any official travel or gift-related filings required of the state's top law enforcement officer.